The present invention relates to a buckle, such as a safety belt buckle for restraining occupants in a vehicle, such as an automobile. More particularly, the present invention relates to improvements in a buckle made of laminate plates. The improvements include a no false latch spring which prevents a problem of "false latching".
A resistance is felt when a user inserts a tongue into a buckle. The resistance gradually increases until a latching member snaps into engagement with the tongue. It is possible that a user of the buckle could misinterpret the force of insertion and believe that he has latched the tongue into the buckle when the tongue is only partially inserted and has not been latched in the buckle. Such a possibility is referred to as the problem of "false latching". A no false latch mechanism of a different design for a non-laminate buckle is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,807,000 to P. O. Weman entitled "Belt Buckle with Double Acting Unitary Spring". Buckles made of a plurality of laminate plates are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,911,236 to A. E. Poulsen entitled "Laminated Buckle Housing"; 3,919,508 to D. Levasseur entitled "Buckle Housing"; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 506,070 filed in the name of R. L. Stephenson, entitled "Safety Belt Buckle".